NCUA Video Offers Liquidity Rule Compliance Help

The NCUA has posted a video to help federally insured credit unions comply with the final liquidity rule approved by the NCUA Board.

The video provides “insights into the purpose of the rule, who should follow the rule, compliance deadlines and additional resources available to credit unions,” said an NCUA press release on Monday.

“NCUA previously issued a Letter to Credit Unions and other educational material with recommended monthly steps needed to implement the rule,” the release noted.

During their October meeting, board members unanimously approved a final rule requiring all federally insured credit unions with more than $50 million in assets to adopt a contingency funding plan to address liquidity shortfalls during emergency situations.

FICUs with less than $50 million in assets must maintain a basic written policy that provides a credit union board-approved framework for managing liquidity.

FICUs with more than $250 million in assets are required to have access to a backup liquidity source for emergency situations from the NCUA’s Central Liquidity Facility or the Federal Reserve’s discount window.

“One of the lessons we learned during the crisis is that liquidity is vital. It’s one of those things that tend to get taken for granted. It’s a little bit like air. You don’t notice it until it’s not in the room and then you don’t have very long to live so we wanted to make sure that credit unions did sound liquidity planning,” Larry Fazio, director of the Office of Examination and Insurance, said in the video.